After the summer break I shifted my focus from full-time gemmatextile clothes to being in my husband's chair repair workshop.

I've been developing my own gemmatextile business for a few years and I'm terrifically proud of what I've achieved in that time.

Thread Festival 2018

The designs themselves will always be an evolving beast but with my own product testing, and feedback from lovely customers, the core garments are better than ever.

At all of the fairs I've done, there have been online friends and my own textile heroes to meet.

I noticed that at all of the events where I took along one of my small artfigures, they were very appealing to 'my people', and I've had some lovely chats about my creative journey to where I am now. Over the last few months my early morning worktime has been dedicated to creative textile work.

Allowing myself this little window back into textile art has brought some of my textile obsessions together and led me to learn about handweaving. Another time-hungry pastime!

If I get a loom system that I'm happy with I'd going to try to make my own cloth to embroider and even make heirloom garments.

I don't know how conscious this shift in my creative journey is but there is a nice synchronicity with being drawn back to Mark's workshop. As well as adding to my own understanding of materials and slow work, I shall bring some gemmatextile social media wizbangery with a new Instagram account @chaisesrecannees for the chair seating.

While I need to spend some time working in the family business, I shall continue to add more items to my online shop.